Jo Bradley

It's #WorldRiversDay today and my pledge to the River Darwen is that I will continue to fight for better control of stormwater pollution in British Rivers. What pledge will you make to your local river today?

Most road runoff filtration systems are made by UK companies - so investing in tackling road runoff would be investing in UK jobs, wildlife, rivers + water security, as @stormwater-jo.bsky.social explains in our joint podcast with @planetpossible.bsky.social:
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podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/w...

England’s toxic road runoff pollution being ignored, MPs told Carcinogens entering waterways from 25,000 road outflows are not monitored or regulated by Environment Agency, committee hears

Lead, mercury, tyre crumb, plastics, PAHs - a toxic sludge of chemicals surges off roads, into rivers, unfiltered, inundating fish + wildlife, every time it rains @stormwater-jo.bsky.social warms MPs. It's not monitored + little is done to prevent it.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Exciting times! Working with Aquawatch, we have a pair of water quality monitors in the River Darwen, measuring the size of the pollution caused by the M6 runoff. We want to see if simple analysis of turbidity & conductivity can pick up the pollution caused by the motorway runoff. 🧐

Yesterday, we witnessed caseless caddis fly larvae biting the caudal llamellae off a Banded Demoiselle larva and apparently eating them. I wonder if any entomologists working on aquatic invertebrates have ever seen this before? Thanks Samuel Gibson who helped me with the sampling

Hooray 🥳 Now they’ll be able to afford to regulate pollution from highway runoff properly 🚗🚙🚚🚛🚌

250 of the highest risk road runoff outfalls in England are within 500 metres of a Site of Specific Scientific Interest including protected rivers-with mercury, arsenic & other chemical horrors belting into waterways, according to data obtained by @endsreport.com

www.endsreport.com/article/1911...

250 ‘high risk’ outfalls discharging toxic cocktail into waterways near protected sites <b>EXCLUSIVE:</b> More than 250 ‘high risk’ outfalls across England, which channel polluted run-off from major roads into waterways, are located within striking distance of protected sites, data obtai...

🧵Jo Bradley from Stormwater Shepherd, @stormwater-jo.bsky.social said National Highways’ plan for water quality is “woefully inadequate, and leaves thousands of highway outfalls with no prospect of the installation of treatment schemes for years to come”...
www.endsreport.com/article/1911...

“We don't understand the pollution and we're doing nothing about it” 📹 @stormwater-jo.bsky.social

This Thursday, ENDS will be showing exclusive footage and hosting a live webinar on the lesser-known pollutants choking England’s rivers

Register for free ➡️ ends-report.wavecast.io/dead-in-the-...

It definitely goes into the canal - we spent some time looking around. It is very close to an historic overflow from the canal to the river but I don’t think that operates as much any more 🤷🏼‍♀️

This discharge from the M6 near Wigan enters the Leeds/Liverpool canal. Highway runoff should never discharge to canals because all the contaminated sediment & dissolved toxins accumulate around the discharge point, poisoning the local environment.

Scientists make disturbing new discovery while studying human urine samples: 'We urgently need to classify [this]' A recent study found high levels of two potentially deadly chemicals in humans' urine, raising concerns about tire pollution.

“It's not easy to be exact, but studies estimate that tires create anywhere from 10-28% of the world's microplastic pollution, according to National Geographic. These particles don't just disappear — they end up in our water, our soil, and our bodies.”

If you’re interested to find highway outfalls that are polluting your river, now’s the time 🕰️. In a few weeks, this one will be concealed in undergrowth, but by locating it now, I’ve given myself the best change of finding it again in the rain ☔️ in the Spring when the vegetation is up to my ears 👂🏻

Winter road salt could be killing salmon eggs Researchers have found that high levels of salt kill fertilized coho salmon eggs, raising concerns about the use of road salt in winter.

Research in Canada is underway to investigate the harm caused to fish eggs by road salt applications during the winter. The results have not been peer-reviewed yet, but they have found evidence of significant effects on the fish eggs.
science.ubc.ca/news/january...

The road runoff will be warm too, especially when the sun is shining on the road surface, so that may play its part. And the routine pollutants in road runoff may affect freezing temperature, even before the salt is applied. Thanks for sharing your image - fascinating 👍🏻

My new dark red climate stripe for 2024 shows it’s the hottest year yet These ‘warming stripes’, adopted around the world as a symbol of climate awareness, action and ambition, now include another dark red stripe for 2024.

Well done humanity. For it is us who have caused this rapid warming of the planet, and the devastating consequences for people and ecosystems that are so visible today and every day.

theconversation.com/my-new-dark-...

Check out this Land for sale on Rightmove Land for sale in St Anne's, Bristol, Bristol, North Somerset, BS4 for £300,000. Marketed by David James, Wrington

🌳 Scraps of woodland in Bristol on/near the Avon in St Anne’s. I want to make sure these go to good owners but don’t have anything like enough funds or beans to run this all myself with Bath / Warleigh acquisition going through soon. www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...

One quarter of freshwater animals at risk of extinction - IUCN Red List Gland, Switzerland, 8 January 2025 (IUCN) – The largest global assessment of freshwater animals on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ to date has revealed that 24% of the world’s freshwater fish...

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, 24% of earth’s freshwater animals are at risk of extinction.

With marine animals playing a vital role in the wider ecosystem, the time for climate action is now critical.

Read the full report - iucn.org/press-releas...

We’ve made it to Bluesky! Please give us a follow and share - we post positive solutions offering hope for tackling the nature and climate emergencies🌱

One more day of 20% off absolutely everything!🤓🤩🥳
www.charlottestrawbridge.co.uk/art

Report this Peter, if you can. Call the EA hotline on 0800 80 70 60. At least then it will be on their system & they can visit the AD plant to investigate their spreading practices 👍🏻

A really exciting job opportunity working with me at Welsh Dee Trust.

Head of project delivery.

This role will have oversight of the delivery of all projects at Welsh Dee Trust and will make a significant impact upon the restoration of the Dee.
Please share
www.welshdeetrust.com/we-are-hirin...

Hi fellow ecologists!

Do you know of any labs or research institutes that might have, or will have, open positions in amphibian research or conservation?

Thanks!

I’ve added new people to this list, is there anyone else I’ve missed? Please share go.bsky.app/Bs811RP

Please may I be added?

Newsletters — The Riverfly Partnership

Our December newsletter is out now! 🙌

New Riverfly merch, data reports, ‘Meet the monitor’ and more! Follow the the link below where you can also sign up to our newsletters⬇️

www.riverflies.org/newsletters

Also, keep a record of what you’ve read, with citations and notes, or you will spend half your life saying ‘I remember a paper that I read once …’ but you’ll never be able to find it again.

🧵Pond soundscapes are bursting with life and mysterious sounds!

Aquatic insects rub hard body parts together to attract mates and submerged plants release oxygen bubbles as they respire in the hot sun.

145 species of spider from the six visits to this dairy farm, 17 of which have conservation status. Gonna take a while to write these species accounts. There are 31 beetles with status!

We can treat highway runoff relatively easily, but we don’t have the money for the installation and operation of treatment schemes.